Nikolay Levin

Also known as: Nikolay / Nikolay Dmitrievitch / brother Nikolay · Family: Levin · Role: brother · First appears: PART ONE · Chapter 8

Nikolay Levin, the elder brother of Levin and half-brother of Sergey Ivanovitch, reappeared in Moscow after estranging himself from his brothers. He was described as utterly ruined, having dissipated much of his fortune and living in the strangest and lowest company; Prokofy saw him in the street. Sergey Ivanovitch paid his IOU to Trubin and sent it to him, but Nikolay rejected his brothers’ assistance, writing, “I humbly beg you to leave me in peace.”

Towards eleven o’clock, Nikolay recognized Levin and invited him to supper, though he also said that he did not know or wish to know either brother. He introduced Marya Nikolaevna as “the partner of my life,” saying he loved and respected her and regarded her as his wife. At Vozdrem, he began founding a locksmiths’ association in which production, profits, and chief instruments would be held in common; that night he became hopelessly drunk, and Marya Nikolaevna helped Levin get him to bed and promised to write if he needed help. When his health worsened, Marya Nikolaevna informed Levin, who persuaded Nikolay to see a doctor and go abroad for treatment.

Kitty learned that Nikolay was Levin’s brother and formed an intense dislike of him. Later, after Levin and Nikolay quarrelled over Levin’s labor theory, Nikolay decided to leave; at parting he kissed his brother, warned him not to remember him with resentment, and said, “You see, and you know, that I’m in a bad way, and maybe we shall not see each other again.” Nikolay’s illness eventually reduced him to a death-like physical condition. Kitty comforted him, reorganized the sickroom, arranged medical care, and nursed him; he was washed, given clean bedding, and looked at her with new hope. After prolonged agony and prayer for the dying, Nikolay died, with Levin, Kitty, and Marya Nikolaevna present.